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In many cases, however, there was no identification, only a collocation and subordination: the stone became the symbol of the deity, or a sacred object associated with the deity. +293+. This seems to be the later conception of the character of the sacred stones mentioned in the Old Testament, as the one that Jacob is said to have set up as a masseba and anointed.
Over the latter we naturally see the radiate Sun and Crescent moon in conjunction. In figure 16 on the same plate are representations of an Ashera and a Masseba, respectively surmounted by a Crescent moon and a radiate Sun. A similar remark applies to figure 17. A sacrificing priest can be seen in this and the last named instances.
On the left is an Ashera under a Crescent moon; in the centre is a Masseba under the Sun-star or radiate Sun; and on the right is an altar under a sun disc. The phallic meaning of all this is evident; and a kind of Trinity is presented to us, viz.
The three sacred symbols in question are the Ashera or symbol of the Female Life Principle; the Masseba or symbol of the Male Life Principle; and a combination of the Ashera and Masseba symbols representing the two Life Principles in conjunction. On Plate LXXIX. we have in figure 14 a representation both of the Sacred Tree and of the combined Ashera and Masseba.
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